“What type of HR system is most appropriate for a firm wishing to pursue a strategyof innovation?”

http://www.dcu.ie/dcubs/research_papers/no32.html

Briefly, we concluded that the considerable body of published research on HRM and innovation had relatively little to offer the hard-pressed HR manager in pursuit of some actions that they might implement in their own organisations. While a number of sources offered prescriptions of HR practices that they claimed would lead to higher levels of innovative behaviours, these prescriptions lacked consistency and in many instances flatly contradicted each other.  For instance, on the one hand, a number of authors propose that innovating organisations need to do much of their recruitment externally, to try to retain a fit between their human resource pool and the changing needs of the organisation. Innovative organisations arecharacterised as operating in environments which are both unstable and ambiguous,thereby making work role and behaviour requirements more difficult to define. On the other hand, other equally reputable authors argue that because innovativeorganisations require risk taking behaviour and tolerance of inevitable failures, jobsecurity should be provided and a long-term orientation encouraged by recruiting internally.  So what’s a HR manager to do when they asked to propose changes to the organisation’s HR practices that will motivate an increase in innovative behaviours?  The answer to that is, as always in the social sciences, that “it depends”.  It depends on factors such as the industry, the culture and history of the organisation, and the economic environment just for starters.  An important caveat is that the review referenced above is somewhat dated, and I would welcome suggestions of more recent studies that you may be aware of that can shed further light on this.  I will undertake an informal review of the more recent research and post an update in coming weeks. There are also important related themes to explore around leadership, culture and innovation and I hope to initiate discussions on these over coming weeks as well.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliqu, velillumam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis autem vel eum iriure dolor in hendrerit in vulputate velit esse molestie consequat, vel illum dolore eu feugiat nulla facillisis at vero eros et accumsan et iusto odio dignissim qui blandit praesent luptatum zzril delenit augue duis dolore te feugait nulla facillisi.